The San Francisco Chronicle has a long and interesting piece today on the field of "cannasseurship" -- the consideration of subtle aspects of the different flavors, aromas and physical effects associated with different varieties (varietals?) of marijuana. Some of the interest in this area, author Katherine Seligman notes, probably comes down to pure marketing -- people in Northern California seem to like their marijuana to be purple, for example. But part of what's going on is also that as marijuana has taken on a "quasi-legal" status in some areas (and especially in California, where the language of the Compassionate Use Act allows individuals to use marijuana for "any condition"), there is an increasingly professional and sophisticated approach to what is being sold.
(Above: Rick Pfrommer of the Harborside Health Center. Photo from sfgate.com, photographer Michael Macor.)
It's not all that different from the specialized, meticulous approach that manufacturers take toward goat cheese or riesling or organic peaches these days. Except that the FBI could come knocking on the door at any moment. And it strikes me that there could be some challenging intellectual property issues in this area not too far down the line. Seligman quotes one grower who describes his "purple kryptonite" strain of marijuana as being "proprietary." But given the state of the law today, what court could one turn to to enforce such a proprietary interest?
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